The Impeachment Hearings
Have Been Useless
National Review,
by
David Harsanyi
Original Article
Posted By: Garnet,
11/22/2019 10:09:04 AM
Democrats on the Intelligence Committee have spent the vast majority of their impeachment hearings trying to persuade voters that bureaucrats believe Donald Trump is impulsive, self-serving, and misguided — all of which is unsurprising, and completely irrelevant to the matter at hand.
Quite often, in fact, the most breathless coverage of these tedious hearings has absolutely nothing to do with the allegedly impeachable offenses of quid pro quo or “bribery” — or whatever focus group-tested terminology Democrats are deploying today. Take the newest blockbuster witness, Fiona Hill, a Russia expert whose testimony nearly every outlet promised would be “explosive.”
Read the comments after this article. Either a bunch of rinos or a lot of liberals trying to look like republicans.
2 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
ToryWhite 11/22/2019 10:39:18 AM (No. 242145)
Typical National Review posturing. Trying to have it both ways, too.
10 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Quigley 11/22/2019 10:43:50 AM (No. 242150)
“ To me, there’s little question such a call from the president — whether he was explicitly favor trading or not — is at the very least unethical and at most an abuse of power. Is it impeachable? That’s a political decision.”
“To me” modern art looks haphazard; garlic remains in the digestive tract too long; hot peppers are too hot.
How is it unethical? Is it a professional courtesy to allow other politicians to commit crimes?
Abuse of power? “Please cooperate with our officials” is an abuse of power?
This dude needs more authority than “to me.”
9 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
justavoter 11/22/2019 10:47:04 AM (No. 242155)
The whole inquiry was useless for the mere fact that no consideration is given to the context surrounding the phone call.
I have read the "transcript" several times.
To me it was a lot of small talk and pleasantries.
My take was that President Trump was interested in clearing his name from all of the Russia, Russia, Russia, we have been inundated with for the past three years and one of the sources used against him had to do with the DNC server that Crowdstrike, based in Ukraine, was covering for in the investigation.
The Biden thing was a throw away and conversation filler. I don't thing President Trump cared 2 wits about Biden and yes, it would have been better not to have mentioned that but there sure wasn't any quid pro quo.
The Democrats are just mad they got caught.
9 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
davew 11/22/2019 11:02:42 AM (No. 242176)
The question that Adam Schiff so dramatically asked every witness was, "Do you think it is appropriate for the President to request a foreign government investigate his political opponent?"
The correct answer should have been, "It depends". If he has credible prima fascia evidence that his political opponent is a crook and had publicly confessed to bribery then he has a duty to coordinate an investigation under the mutual treaty's we have with foreign nations to fight corruption. Being a candidate for President does not convey immunity from past crimes unless you are Hillary Clinton.
The reason President Trump referred the the corruption in Ukraine on the Zelensky phone call related to the DNC gathering of dirt on his campaign and Paul Manafort and the firing of the Ukrainian prosecutor by Joe Biden that was investigating his son Hunter Biden was because that was the only evidence of Ukrainian corruption that his lawyer Giuliani had acquired and vetted in building his defense of his client to the pending Mueller report. I'm sure if Rudy had more time and money he would have found a lot more corruption related to the oligarchs that were the largest Ukrainian donors to the Clinton Foundation but he was working for Trump not the DOJ. Its that "other stuff" that Trump was hoping to clear up before he signed off on the $400B + aid package.
8 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
jinx 11/22/2019 11:13:50 AM (No. 242188)
I wouldn't say "useless". It exposed the Democrats for who they really are and their real agenda. Schiff is now the butt of jokes not Pres. Trump. I say it was useful.
7 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
hurricanegirl 11/22/2019 11:48:04 AM (No. 242240)
Of course the hearings are useless. The impeachment papers have been drawn up and signed for weeks. This was all a dog-and-pony show to pretend like they were doing the right thing.
That's why I roll my eyes at all these journolists banging the keyboard day and night about what a farce this is! Of course it's a farce! Have you ever seen anyone overthrow a government by following the laws of the land?
4 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
MDConservative 11/22/2019 11:52:05 AM (No. 242244)
Useless? PDT's approval numbers have gone up with the hearings, which have apparently changed some minds in his favor. Hardly useless. Keeps the GOPe's challenger (who could that be?) at bay.
6 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
chance_232 11/22/2019 12:30:10 PM (No. 242282)
Not true....
It drove up Trumps poll numbers, liberals are giddy with excitement, feeling their oats and jumping off the cliff singing "Happy Days Are Here Again". Meanwhile, anyone with two or more functioning brain cells are if not appalled, have slipped into a boredom coma.
2 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
udanja99 11/22/2019 1:10:44 PM (No. 242316)
Two other indications on how this farce has been useful - PDT’s rallies have been bigger than ever indicating that he is losing NO support and his campaign has been pulling in about $1 million per day while this idiocy has been going on.
1 person likes this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Proud Texan 11/22/2019 1:11:37 PM (No. 242317)
Useless people do useless things!
1 person likes this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
jacksin5 11/22/2019 1:18:31 PM (No. 242331)
It isn't what occured at the Impeachment Inquiry, it's what the MSM has reported what happened. They can report whatever they want, spinning the narrative like a top, and that's what the American People get as information.
The average working joe gets home from work, flips on the tv to gets the news, sports, and weather, and gets only what the MSM spin machine puts out.
Don't bother asking the wife, she watches the View while doing the laundry.
I've painted this with a broad brush, and I realize there is an equal amount of people who are following the hearings and receive their info from Conservative sources, but the MSM is what makes so hard to talk politics to leftists. They really believe they have Truth on their side.
0 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
stablemoney 11/22/2019 1:22:04 PM (No. 242334)
The hearings were very useful in exposing the bureaucracy. Self inflated people, doing nothing except harping about each other and meetings. Trump just pulled up another rock to expose the bureaucracy and the Democrats, which are one and the same. I learned a lot about what these people do from listening to their testimony. The conclusion I would have is that we do not need any of these people. We should let all of them go.
2 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
LC Chihuahua 11/22/2019 2:14:54 PM (No. 242398)
Our government is wasting money again! Instead of governing, they play power politics. They behave like bullies and tyrants instead of leaders.
This is not an impeachment hearing. Its a made for TV show. Its been innuendo and baseless accusations. No evidence and no facts. This was evident before it started. I have not watched it at all.
This should never have happened. The only reason this impeachment hearing did occur was because the House is controlled by corrupt Democrats.
1 person likes this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
jeffkinnh 11/22/2019 3:59:37 PM (No. 242483)
"To me, there’s little question such a call from the president ... is at the very least unethical and at most an abuse of power."
AND there we are, the NeverTrump stand we have all come to know and "love". It's just as useless as the author thinks the "hearings" have been. NeverTrumps and dems gotta do what they do, as dopey and useless as it is.
"this impeachment inquiry might be playing out differently"
If dems could be other than the irrational zealots they are, there would be no impeachment hearings, as much as Harsanyi seems to wish they could pin something on Trump.
Although they are called "hearings" and Harsanyi might claim he is listening, it is astonishing how little he has actually "heard". What we have heard is a bunch of bureaucrats that are cheesed off that Trump doesn't come to them for their "expert" advice. They gossip among themselves and then report gossip as fact, until confronted when they are forced to admit they have no first hand knowledge of events. Maybe not so much knowledge at all. We hear from an ambassador who talks about quid pro quo but when cornered admits that NO ONE ON THE PLANET told him so. He just 'ass'umed it.
I guess it's not surprising that a NeverTrump would be sympathetic. They too, are "experts" and Trump doesn't listen to them either.
1 person likes this.
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